Locked down… but not out
September 18, 2020
Bubble Up Project Update
October 2, 2020How collaborative working in St Helens has supported young people to stay positive through creativity
Evonne Bixter from Cultured, St Helens' Local Cultural Education Partnership, tells us how they share Let's Create art packs to help local young people through lockdown.
Cultured is St. Helens Cultural Education Partnership. We’re based within the Music Service and our steering group includes representatives from the education sector, National Museums Liverpool, FACT Liverpool, Heart of Glass, Cultural Hubs, The Library Service, Citadel Arts and St. Helens Music Hub.
We work together to offer high quality arts and cultural opportunities to children, young people and the wider community in St. Helens through a joined-up approach and collaborative ethos. We have a development officer who coordinates our innovative arts and cultural offer to schools, which includes workshops, visits, creative industry career events and professional development opportunities for teachers. You can read more about this on our web page.
We work together to offer high quality arts and cultural opportunities to children, young people and the wider community in St. Helens through a joined-up approach and collaborative ethos. We have a development officer who coordinates our innovative arts and cultural offer to schools, which includes workshops, visits, creative industry career events and professional development opportunities for teachers. You can read more about this on our web page.
During lockdown, we seized the opportunity to be part of the Let’s Create pack project, supported by Curious Minds, so that we could actively support children and young people in the borough to remain positive through creative activity.
By providing art materials, online resources, printed activities and literature, we have been able to encourage self-expression and support the mental health and wellbeing of our young people. We have also made stronger links with the Youth Service and Social Services by identifying recipients with them and distributing packs though their established support structures.
We were also able to provide packs for over 300 students who had artwork in our Youth Open Art exhibition but were unable to visit the display due to lockdown. Already showing artistic promise, these students appreciated the high-quality materials and were encouraged to continue developing their skills at home.
Our project secured support from St. Helens Ambassadors - local businesses who are keen to drive innovation, aspiration and quality in the borough. It is hoped that this support will ensure a closer relationship with the sector in the future.
Being part of Let’s Create has inspired us to develop a similar resource as part of an ACE funded digital project we are currently working on. For this project, entitled ’Here’, we will be identifying 360 vulnerable families across the borough who would benefit from a pack of exciting, creative materials as they have limited resources at home. These packs will help to overcome the financial barriers to engagement in the project and enable us to reach a new audience, without compromising the safety of participants in these ‘socially distanced’ times.
You can find out more about the Let's Create project here.
